Here the truceless armies yet / Trample, rolled in blood and sweat; / They kill and kill and never die; / And I think that each is I. // None will part us, none undo / The knot that makes one flesh of two, /

Sick with hatred, sick with pain, / Strangling -- When shall we be slain? // When shall I be dead and rid / Of the wrong my father did? / How long, how long, till spade and hearse / Puts to sleep my mother's curse?

The siege rules of Clash of Monarchs are what first attracted me to the game. Sieges will progress automatically once set, or you can spend activations to move them faster. There are several states of siege, and two possible victory conditions ("Honors of War" or Breach). Modifiers include size of fortress, size of garrison, leadership for the defense, artillery, supply state, etc. And +1 for the Austrians/French. As a friend commented, "I have a hard time thinking of any other +1 die-roll modifier that makes such a big difference in its game."

I hope you'll agree that this is on topic, and might ultimately help with the search:

A while back - perhaps two years ago - I saw a work-in-progress announcement for a game which emphasized what the author said is the otherwise underplayed importance of siege - including clearing and pacifying a wide area around the besieged citadel - as preparation for the major field battles of the Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula, and featuring many generations of leaders, spanning almost eight centuries. I recall the description of the siege mechanics being interesting, in that they evolved over time.

I failed to bookmark it, and now I can't seem to track it down. Does anyone here know the one I mean?

Cities can be starved stormed or taken by Treachery. The nice touch is that Leaders have a rating for guile so a particularly cunning general like Hannibal can use his guile points to take a City by treachery from within. Cities may just open their gates on arrival of an enemy army.

There is a rule for the besieged to sally out with the possibility of a besieging army facing battle from the besieged and a relief force.

Another nice rule is that a besieging army may on capturing a City run amok while looting and not only affect relations with allies but cause disruption and loss of effectiveness for the troops that were involved in looting.

Sadly, I think we can assume this one is dead in the water. When I asked GMT a few years ago they said they had heard nothing back from the designer. Who knows. A missed opportunity though- I list it here out of wistfulness.

Won by the Sword has sieges as a focal point of the game, recreating the various stages from the first offer of surrender to the building of the trenches, the mutual bombardments and the sallies by the defender till the final assault (or you can attempt a surprise escalade to catch the garrison by surprise)

Cities can be starved stormed or taken by Treachery. The nice touch is that Leaders have a rating for guile so a particularly cunning general like Hannibal can use his guile points to take a City by treachery from within. Cities may just open their gates on arrival of an enemy army.

There is a rule for the besieged to sally out with the possibility of a besieging army facing battle from the besieged and a relief force.

Another nice rule is that a besieging army may on capturing a City run amok while looting and not only affect relations with allies but cause disruption and loss of effectiveness for the troops that were involved in looting.

All in all lots of nice touches.

In premodern times, a siege was enormously expensive. Armies in the field almost always were expected to "live off the land", and needed move on when the local supplies were exhausted. Furthermore, remaining in place too long would invite various forms of "camp fever" (cholera, dysentery and typhus, et al) If a collaborator within the walls could not be found, then the chance of ultimate success evaporated faster than a cold beer on a hot day.

Won by the Sword has sieges as a focal point of the game, recreating the various stages from the first offer of surrender to the building of the trenches, the mutual bombardments and the sallies by the defender till the final assault (or you can attempt a surprise escalade to catch the garrison by surprise)

That sounds interesting. On of my "wish they'd make this" games would be a card-driven, or even cards-only game of siege warfare. The first reaction of many gamers is "sieges are boring (unless you're storming the ramparts)". For many years, that was my impression of WWI games. Now I absolutely love PoG.

Divine Right, the old TSR empire-building wargame in a fantasy setting, handled sieges very well, I thought.

Roughly, you compared the factors for attack and defense to arrive at a differential. To have a shot at completing the siege, the differential had to be in the attacker's favor. Then you rolled a d6. You had to roll under the differential to win the siege. It might have gone the other way as well for trying to break it from within.

It's been long years since I last played. But I remember at the time thinking that sieges were simple affairs that felt right even in a fantasy setting.

Cities can be starved stormed or taken by Treachery. The nice touch is that Leaders have a rating for guile so a particularly cunning general like Hannibal can use his guile points to take a City by treachery from within. Cities may just open their gates on arrival of an enemy army.

There is a rule for the besieged to sally out with the possibility of a besieging army facing battle from the besieged and a relief force.

Another nice rule is that a besieging army may on capturing a City run amok while looting and not only affect relations with allies but cause disruption and loss of effectiveness for the troops that were involved in looting.

All in all lots of nice touches.

It's very similar to the system Berg used for The Crusades, especially the guile rating. Crusades was good as it had very large hexes with cities and fortresses as separate locations within the hex, making who is inside and who is outside easy to visualise.

Won by the Sword has sieges as a focal point of the game, recreating the various stages from the first offer of surrender to the building of the trenches, the mutual bombardments and the sallies by the defender till the final assault (or you can attempt a surprise escalade to catch the garrison by surprise)

That sounds interesting. On of my "wish they'd make this" games would be a card-driven, or even cards-only game of siege warfare.